THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLEY OF INDIA

Nature of the Assembly

The Assembly met for the first time in New Delhi on 9 December 1946. The last session of the
Assembly was held on January 24, 1950.

The Constituent Assembly took almost three years (two years, eleven months and seventeen days to be precise)
to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for Independent India. During this period, it held eleven
sessions covering a total of 165 days. Of these, 114 days were spent on the consideration of the Draft
Constitution.

As to its composition, members were chosen by indirect election by the members of the Provincial Legislative
Assemblies, according to the scheme recommended by the Cabinet Mission. The arrangement was: (i) 292
members were elected through the Provincial Legislative Assemblies; (ii) 93 members represented the Indian
Princely States; and (iii) 4 members represented the Chief Commissioners' Provinces. The total membership of
the Assembly thus was to be 389. However, as a result of the partition under the Mountbatten Plan of 3 June,
1947, a separate Constituent Assembly was set up for Pakistan and representatives of some Provinces ceased to
be members of the Assembly. As a result, the membership of the Assembly was reduced to 299.

The hope behind the Assembly was expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru: "The first task of this
Assembly is to free India through a new constitution, to feed the starving people, and to cloth the
naked masses, and to give every Indian the fullest opportunity to develop himself according to
his capacity.

Background and election

The Constituent Assembly was set up while India was still under British rule, following
negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India from the
United Kingdom.

The Assembly members were elected to it indirectly by the members of the individual provincial
legislative assemblies, and initially included representatives for those provinces which came to
form part of Pakistan, some of which are now within Bangladesh. The Constituent Assembly had
217 representatives, including 15 women.

The Interim Government of India was formed on 2 September 1946 from the newly elected
Constituent Assembly.
The Congress held a large majority in the Assembly, with 69 per cent of all of the seats, while
the Muslim League held almost all of the seats reserved in the Assembly for Muslims. There
were also some members from smaller parties, such as the Scheduled Caste Federation, the
Communist Party of India, and the Unionist Party.

In June 1947, the delegations from the provinces of Sindh, East Bengal, Baluchistan, West
Punjab, and the North West Frontier Province withdrew, in order to form the Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan, meeting in Karachi.

On August 15, 1947, the Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan became independent
nations, and the members of the Constituent Assembly who had not withdrawn to Karachi
became India's Parliament. Only 28 members of the Muslim League finally joined the Indian
Assembly. Later, 93 members were nominated from the princely states. The Congress thus
secured a majority of 82%.

Constitution and elections]

At 11AM on December 9, 1946, the Assembly began its first session, with 207 members
attending

. By early 1947, representatives of the Muslim League and princely states joined. The Assembly
formally approved the draft Constitution on November 26, 1949. On January 26, 1950, the
Constitution took effect, a day now commemorated in India as Republic Day. At this point, the
Constituent Assembly became the Provisional Parliament of India, which continued in
existence until after the first elections under the new Constitution took place in 1952.

Organization

Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha was the first president (temporary chairman) of the Constituent
Assembly when it met on December 9, 1946.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad then became the President of the Constituent Assembly, and would later
become the first President of India.

The Vice President of the Constituent Assembly was Professor Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a
former Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University and a prominent Christian from Bengal, who also
served as the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly's Minorities Committee; he was appointed
Governor of West Bengal after India became a republic.Eminent bureaucrat & jurist Sir Benegal
Narsing Rau was appointed as the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly. He
prepared the original draft of the constitution and was later appointed a judge in the Permanent
Court of International Justice, The Hague.

The Assembly's work was organized into five stages:

(1) committees were asked to present reports on basic issues;

(2) the constitutional adviser, B.N. Rau, prepared an initial draft on the basis of these committees
and his own research into the constitutions of other countries;

(3) the drafting committee, chaired by B.R. Ambedkar, presented a detailed draft constitution
that was published for public discussion and comments;

(4) the draft constitution was discussed and amendments were proposed and enacted;

(5) the constitution was adopted. A committee of experts led by the Congress Party, called the
Congress Assembly Party, played a critical role.[3]

December 9, 1946 : The first meeting of Constituent Assembly was held in the constitution
hall(now 'Central Hall of Parliament House'). Demanding a separate state,the Muslim League
boycotted the meeting. Dr.Sanchidanand Sinha was elected as temporary President of Assembly
following the French practice.

December 11, 1946 : Elected Dr.Rajendra Prasad and H.C.Mukherjee as the President and Vice-
President of the Assembly respectively.Appointed Sir B.N.Rau as Constitutional advisor to the
Assembly.

December 13, 1946 : 'Objective Resolution' was introduced by Jawaharlal Nehru.Underlying

principles of Constitution were laid by Objective Resolution.

January 22, 1947: Unanimously adopted the Objective Resolution.

May 1949: It ratified India's membership of the Commonwealth

July 22, 1947: Adopted the national flag

January 24, 1950: Adopted the national anthem,national song.Elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the
first president of India

Assembly was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad whenever it met as Constituent body and by
G.V.Mavlankar when it met as the legislative body. Constituent Assembly completed the task of
drafting Constitution in 2 years, 11 months and 18 days. The total expenditure incurred was
Rs.64 lakh.

Members of the Indian Constituent Assembly

Indian National Congress Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st Prime Minister , Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel, Deputy Prime Minister cum Home Minister , Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Minister for
Law, Chairman of Drafting committee , Maulana Azad, Minister for Education, , Dr. Rajendra
Prasad, Chairman of the Assembly, C. Rajagopalachari, Governor General ETC